<p>Chennai: Sathish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC), Sriharikota will hit a unique milestone in January 2025 when a Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV) lifts off with a navigation satellite, NVS-02, marking the 100th launch from the spaceport near here. </p> <p>Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) chairman S Somanath made the announcement on Monday night after the successful launch of the PSLV-C60 Space Docking Experiment (SpaDeX) aimed at developing and demonstrating crucial technology required to dock and undock spacecrafts in space. </p> <p>"…the launch of the SpaDeX (Space Docking Experiment) rocket, is the 99th launch of a vehicle from Satish Dhawan Space Centre. We are going for the 100th launch at the beginning of the next year,” Somanath said. GSLC-NVS-02, which is part of the second-generation satellites envisaged for navigation with Indian Constellation (NavIC) services, will also be the first launch by ISRO in the new year. </p> <p>SLV-E-01, whose director was space scientist and former President A P J Abdul Kalam, was the first mission to be launched from SDSC, Sriharikota on August 10, 1979. Since then, the ISRO has conducted 99 launches with the space agency’s trusted workhorse carrying out 62 launches, followed by GSLV (16), LVM3 (7), ASLV (4), SLV (4), SSLV (3), and test missions such as crew escape system, scramjet engine, and RLV-TD. </p> <p>Additionally, as many as 537 launches have taken place at the Sounding Rocket Complex in Sriharikota after it became operational on October 9, 1971, with the flight of ‘Rohini-125’, a small sounding rocket. </p> <p>Sriharikota, the spindle shaped island in Andhra Pradesh’s Nellore district situated in the backwater Pulicat Lake and sandwiched by Buckingham Canal on the West and Bay of Bengal on the East, was chosen by the Union Government in 1969 for setting up the country’s rocket launch station. </p> <p>ISRO is now building its second launchpad in Kulasekarapattinam in Thoothukudi district in Tamil Nadu exclusively for launching small satellites that are geographically advantageous for the country. </p> <p>Scientists say the Kulasekarapattinam spaceport will help save fuel as satellites launched from here can directly travel towards south unlike those launched from Sriharikota which fly in the southeast direction after liftoff from the Sathish Dhawan Space Centre to avoid flying over Sri Lanka and takes a sharp manoeuvre towards the South Pole. </p> <p>The spaceport will be operationalised in the next two years.</p>
<p>Chennai: Sathish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC), Sriharikota will hit a unique milestone in January 2025 when a Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV) lifts off with a navigation satellite, NVS-02, marking the 100th launch from the spaceport near here. </p> <p>Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) chairman S Somanath made the announcement on Monday night after the successful launch of the PSLV-C60 Space Docking Experiment (SpaDeX) aimed at developing and demonstrating crucial technology required to dock and undock spacecrafts in space. </p> <p>"…the launch of the SpaDeX (Space Docking Experiment) rocket, is the 99th launch of a vehicle from Satish Dhawan Space Centre. We are going for the 100th launch at the beginning of the next year,” Somanath said. GSLC-NVS-02, which is part of the second-generation satellites envisaged for navigation with Indian Constellation (NavIC) services, will also be the first launch by ISRO in the new year. </p> <p>SLV-E-01, whose director was space scientist and former President A P J Abdul Kalam, was the first mission to be launched from SDSC, Sriharikota on August 10, 1979. Since then, the ISRO has conducted 99 launches with the space agency’s trusted workhorse carrying out 62 launches, followed by GSLV (16), LVM3 (7), ASLV (4), SLV (4), SSLV (3), and test missions such as crew escape system, scramjet engine, and RLV-TD. </p> <p>Additionally, as many as 537 launches have taken place at the Sounding Rocket Complex in Sriharikota after it became operational on October 9, 1971, with the flight of ‘Rohini-125’, a small sounding rocket. </p> <p>Sriharikota, the spindle shaped island in Andhra Pradesh’s Nellore district situated in the backwater Pulicat Lake and sandwiched by Buckingham Canal on the West and Bay of Bengal on the East, was chosen by the Union Government in 1969 for setting up the country’s rocket launch station. </p> <p>ISRO is now building its second launchpad in Kulasekarapattinam in Thoothukudi district in Tamil Nadu exclusively for launching small satellites that are geographically advantageous for the country. </p> <p>Scientists say the Kulasekarapattinam spaceport will help save fuel as satellites launched from here can directly travel towards south unlike those launched from Sriharikota which fly in the southeast direction after liftoff from the Sathish Dhawan Space Centre to avoid flying over Sri Lanka and takes a sharp manoeuvre towards the South Pole. </p> <p>The spaceport will be operationalised in the next two years.</p>